Rotary switches have been used to make and break electrical connections between contact pads. The contact pads are either standard pads within the apparatus to which leads are connected or pairs of contact pads separated by a space on a circuit board. Rotary switches use a cylindrical conductive rod which makes an electrical connection between two pads when the rod rolls over the two contact pads. The cylindrical rod is rolled off the contact to break the electrical connection.
One type of such assemblies includes a rotatable base portion with detent means for aligning with contact pads on a circuit board. The detent means are rectangular openings into which cylindrical conductive rods may fall. A top portion is secured to the circuit board and contains tabs extending downwardly and presenting concave undersides. The conductive rods are adjacent the concave undersides and extend radially outwardly. The base portion is rotated which either aligns the detent means with the contact pads on the circuit board to allow the cylindrical conductive rods to fall therein making an electrical connection, or moves the detent means to an unaligned position with respect to the contact pads therefore breaking any electrical connections. An inadequacy of this assembly is that the base portion has a fixed number of contact areas and that the conductive rods are in a fixed positions. The assembly is difficult because there are several pieces. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,440 granted Dec. 7, 1976 in the name of Solomon J. Niconienko discloses such a system where a rotatable base portion and an immobile top portion are used to make an electrical connection on a circuit board.